When you think of Torrey Pines’ South Course, host of this week’s Farmers Insurance Open, the first golfer who probably comes to mind is Tiger Woods. And rightfully so. In 18 starts in the annual PGA Tour event at the San Diego municipal course, Woods won seven times and had 13 top-10 finishes, earning a tournament record $7,177,379 in prize money payouts. He also won the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey, bringing home another $1.35 million. Carry the ones and that makes $8.5 million earned in total, which translates into $448,809 per start.
OK, why bring this up? Well, let’s just say that Jon Rahm is making an argument that maybe he is in line to inherit the “Prince of the Pines” label. In six career appearances at the Farmers, the Spaniard has one win, one second, one third and five top-10s. His total earnings are $3,007,347. Oh, and Rahm’s Torrey story includes a U.S. Open win as well, in 2021, which earned him another $2.25 million. So that’s $5,257,347 in winnings in seven starts, or $751,049 per start. Take that Tiger.
And that doesn’t include what could happen on Saturday when the final round of the 2023 Farmers wraps up. Rahm sits in second place at 10 under par, two shots back of 54-hole leader Sam Ryder. Having won four of his last six starts worldwide, including his last two appearances on the PGA Tour, Rahm is the betting favorite to pull out the title on Saturday night (Ryder is winless as he plays his sixth season on the PGA Tour, having never finished better than third in 146 career starts).
If Rahm were to take the title, he’d pull in a first-place prize money payout of $1.566 million from the overall purse of $8.7 million. That would increase his Torrey paydays to $852,918 a start. Best of luck Mr. Ryder, and the rest of the pros playing the South Course on Saturday.
Meanwhile, here is the prize money payout for every golfer who made the cut this year.